Legal Law

How security clearances work

People often ask the question, “How do I get a security clearance? Or how can my company get one?”

My first response is to market yourself. There is nothing you can do to get a security clearance until someone sees value in your product or service and sponsors the business to get a security clearance.

Value is simply someone who has a tangible need for a particular product or service and wants to put you in an already classified contract to be able to use your products or services.

There are many jobs that require clearance or security services and some of those jobs include cleaning services, engineering services, secretarial services, you name it. There are many opportunities to obtain a security clearance. However, one cannot simply obtain a security clearance in preparation for the job. The job offer comes first.

The first step is to be sponsored by a federal government entity, government contracting agency (GCA), or other contract or advocacy contract. Once a business entity has established a need, it can be sponsored to obtain a security clearance.

Government contractors receive contracts classified as part of doing business

A few years ago, I was on a TV/radio talk show and I really couldn’t say much because the show’s hosts kept going on and on about their surprise that the government would allow companies to have security clearances and work in classified ads. . work and your opinion. In his opinion, there was no oversight and it was irresponsible to allow someone other than a government entity to have classified information.

I spoke as much as I could about it, but they yelled at me. There was no point in trying to address irrational thinking there, but I just wanted to let you know that yes, civilian employees and civilian business entities can have a security clearance.

The way it works is the GCA, which is an agency of the federal government, like the department of defense or the department of energy. They will have a contractual need to purchase services or products from contractors. But let’s go back real quick. The GCA is a designated original classification authority, which means that it is capable of classifying information. At the highest level, the President of the US is the original classification authority. However, the president of the United States does not go through an investigation process. Because of his position, they get to enjoy the benefits of having a license to be able to do their job as president.

They delegate their OCA responsibility to the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, CIA, FBI, all these other government organizations. Government agencies are the ones who judge what is classified. Contractors or civil organizations do not do that. They are what are called derivative classification authorities. They can only use and produce things that are already classified.

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